The HMS Quebec took on the second largest contingent of captive Americans. According to Dr. Lewis's work, Neptune's Militia, page 96, there were 105 American prisoners-of-war transported on board the frigate HMS Quebec to New York City. But, according to the computations of this blog writer, there were 104 American captives on board the HMS Quebec.
As with the HMS Diomede, these men will be listed alphabetically by their last names. The officers will be listed first - naval officers, followed by marine officers. Next, the NCOs and enlisted men will be listed - again, naval personnel first, then the marine personnel. Any additional information, such as their "position" on board the frigate South Carolina, will also be included in the column to the right of the roster.
Officers:
Naval:
John Joyner Captain, frigate South Carolina
Thomas White 1st Lieutenant
James Bennet Midshipman
Samuel White Midshipman
Marine:
James Carpenter Lieutenant of Marines
Henry Roymer Lieutenant of Marines
John Walters Lieutenant of Marines
NCOs and Enlisted:
Naval:
John Ball
Black Barney Black?
John Bradley
James Butler
Finley Cameron
John Click
John Colwell
John Davis
John Davis
John Deats
Aaron Eldridge Landsman
Daniel Elliot
William Fagon
William Farrington
Caspar Ferder
John Fillar
Thomas Freeman
Samuel Getchall
David Graham
Premius Griffen Landsman, Black?
Cornelius Hopper
John Hotogrove
Thomas Howe
James Johnson Secretary
John Lemare
John Lumsden
Henry Kref
James Mason
Roger Matley
John McCarty
James McClune
James McMahone
Peter Mezeney
Daniel Mills
Thomas Morfett
John O'Bryan
Henry O'Hara
John Oaks
John Patton
John Powlen
Charles Ristine
Patrick Ryan
Henry Shirley
Richard Skinner
Joel Smith
Samuel Smith
Daniel Swain
Edward Taylor Sailor
Barney Turner
Victor Unger
John Wallace
Lewis Watts
David Wilkinson
William Willy
Marine:
Hug Alerberg Sergeant, Marine?
Aug Wee Kellufer Sergeant, Marine?
Gole Kelin Kerfer Corporal, Marine?
Schars Luzar Corporal, Marine?
Gole Pape Corporal, Marine?
Enoch Allen Marine?
Richard Bartholemew Marine?
Caleb Boyle Marine?
John Brunig Marine?
John Conrade Marine?
Wilhelm Derger Marine?
John Fillar Marine?
William Gallagher Marine?
Jonas Holsmai Marine?
Charles Jemmison Marine?
William Kean Marine?
Schan See Kezoff Marine?
Arnt Killarman Marine?
Verd Lefelke Marine?
Christoph Lomullar Marine?
William Morriss Marine?
Pfiefer Quilge Marine?
Adam Shelter Marine?
Johan Smitte Marine?
(Note: There is an individual who appears on the roster of prisoners-of-war for the HMS Quebec as found in Middlebrook's work, The Frigate South Carolina, that does not appear by the same name in Dr. Lewis's work, Neptune's Militia. In Middlebrook's work, this individual is listed as "Charles Temmison" with no alternate spellings for his last name. But, in Dr. Lewis's work, Neptune's Militia, "Appendix: Crew and Marines of the South Carolina", page 152 a reference to "Charles Jemmison" is found along with the "position" citation of "Marine?". An alternative spelling of his last name as "Temmison" is also given. So, he has been included in the above list of marines as "Charles Jemmison".)
The HMS Quebec, like the HMS Diomede, also was found to have former British soldiers among her American rebel prisoners-of-war. Unlike the HMS Diomede, which had a solitary British soldier on board her, the HMS Quebec had three. These men will be listed in alphabetical order by their last names and their former regimental affiliations will also be given.
William Belcher drummer 17th Regiment of Foot
John Smith soldier 15th Regiment of Foot
John Wilson soldier 24th Regiment of Foot
William Belcher is the only cited former British soldier or Loyalist soldier who is listed as anything other than "British soldier" in Dr. Lewis's work, Neptune's Militia, "Appendix: Crew and Marines of the South Carolina", pages 135-170. He is recorded as having been a "drummer".
(Note: Among the prisoners-of-war carried into New York City harbor by the triumphant British men-of-war, there were two men of the exact same name - John Smith. One was on board the HMS Diomede, the other on board the HMS Quebec. One was listed as an American sailor The second one, cited above, was a British soldier who had signed on with the frigate South Carolina. There is no way of knowing exactly which one was which with any certainty. But, the individual cited above is also listed in Middlebrook's work, The Frigate South Carolina, page 23, with the notation "Apparently Taken on Ship's Books" next to his name. The writer of this blog has never encountered this type of notation before and thus supposes this may be a reference to him having been a British soldier who signed on with the rebel frigate. Thus, this writer has assigned this specific individual among the prisoners-of-war on board the HMS Quebec.)
A second peculiarity of the HMS Quebec is that she is the only British man-of-war that carried Hessian prisoners who had signed on with the rebels in order to get out of their prison camps around Reading and Lancaster, PA. There are no citations of Hessian prisoners on board the HMS Diomede or the HMS Astrea. According to the post dated "12/15/2014", there are no individuals who are above the rank of "musketier" among these men. As cited in the earlier post, these men had probably been separated from their officers and possibly NCOs in order to "persuade" them to enlist with the rebels. Another factor that aided the Americans in convincing the Hessians to sign on with them was that German-speaking clergymen were sent to speak with them as well as Commodore Gillon who was fluent in German. But, most likely the most "persuasive" argument was the Americans pointing out to the Hessians that length they had already been incarcerated in America. All of these men had been captured with General John Burgoyne's army at Saratoga five years earlier. The American negotiators had only to point out, which they certainly did, that their princes in Europe had forgotten about them. The American efforts paid off and they enlisted at least fifty of these Hessian prisoners, representing personnel of four different regiments then stationed in America.
The men cited here only represent two of the Hessian regiments of foot captured at Saratoga in October 1777. All of the men will be listed alphabetically according to their last names. Their former regimental affiliations will also be cited to the right of their names:
Caspar Borner musketier Regiment Erbprinz
Paul Goebell musketier Regiment Erbprinz
Christoph Heneke musketier Regiment von Reidesel
Nicholaus Horn musketier Regiment Erbprinz
Caspar Kitz musketier Regiment Erbprinz
George Lotz musketier Regiment Erbprinz
Heinrich Mertz musketier Regiment Erbprinz
Philip Muller musketier Regiment Erbprinz
Wilhelm Muller musketier Regiment Erbprinz
Daniel Neil musketier Regiment von Reidesel
Heinrich Neil musketier Regiment von Reidesel
Heinrich Schilling musketier Regiment Erbprinz
Philip Sterleper musketier Regiment Erbprinz
Julien Tittle musketier Regiment von Reidesel
Johan Adam Zipf musketier Regiment Erbprinz
Only fourteen men are cited here. But, there were around fifty that were enlisted on board the frigate South Carolina through the efforts of Commodore Gillon and others of the German-speaking community of Pennsylvania. Yet, all of these Hessian former prisoners-of-war were recaptured when the frigate South Carolina struck her colors on December 20, 1782. From the sources that this writer has at hand, there is no way of knowing what became of these remaining 35-40 marines but, I think that it is safe to assume that they were not removed from the frigate South Carolina and were transported to New York City harbor on board the captured American frigate.
That leaves only two prisoners transported by the HMS Quebec to be addressed - Caspar Berner and Henry Helt. Caspar Berner is the easiest to deal with. His last name of "Berner" is almost certainly a miss-transcription of the name "Borner" which is the last name of one of the Hessian prisoners-of-war who had signed on to the frigate South Carolina. If one references the post dated "12/15/2014" the name "Caspar Borner" does indeed appear there and he is listed as a "musketier" of the Regiment Erbprinz. As such, he has been included in the list of recaptured Hessians above.
The final individual who was among the transported captives of the frigate South Carolina has been seen before in the post dated "01/12/2015" and concerned with the Spanish Regiment of Flanders and the frigate South Carolina. The solitary man is listed below along with his "position" on board the frigate South Carolina:
Henry (Enrique?) Helt German?, Flanders Regiment?
This is how he is cited in Dr. Lewis's work, Neptune's Militia, "Appendix: Crew and Marines of the South Carolina". page 150. In Middlebrook's work, The Frigate South Carolina, page 24, he is simply named in the list of captives transported on board the HMS Quebec as "Henry Helt". This man would have been among the few deserters of the Spanish Regiment of Flanders who were recruited by Commodore Gillon while the frigate South Carolina lay in Havana harbor in Cuba, preparing for the Spanish invasion of the Bahamas between January 12- April 22, 1782. According to the post dated "01/12/2015", Commodore Gillon was successful in recruiting about thirteen men from this ancient regiment of the Army of Spain. Commodore Gillon's success may have been due to the fact that the Spanish Regiment of Flanders was composed largely of Dutch- and French-speaking troops, both languages with which Commodore Gillon was very familiar. In other words, he may have personally persuaded these men to desert to the frigate South Carolina.
The British-held Bahamas surrendered to the combined Hispano-American forces on May 10, 1782. The frigate South Carolina departed the Bahamas four days later, on May 14, 1782 and sailed for Philadelphia, PA, reaching the "City of Brotherly Love" on May 29, 1782. She would remain in port there or in Billingsport, NJ until she escorted the small fleet of merchantmen out into the open Atlantic and her unexpected rendezvous with the representatives of the Royal Navy on December 20, 1782. What is amazing in a sense is that Henry Helt remained on board the frigate from May-December, 1782 when so many others who had signed on either in Havana or further eastwards in Europe had left the frigate due to expired enlistments, overdue pay, or desertions. As a matter of fact, he appears to be the only former member of the Spanish Regiment of Flanders who remained on board the frigate South Carolina. If one examines the citation in Dr. Lewis's work, Neptune's Militia, for Henry Helt, one notices that he is suspected to be of German descent. As a German-speaking individual on board a frigate that carried numerous speakers of his native language, he may have felt at home and possibly formed some bonds of camaraderie with either the Pennsylvania Dutch marines or even the Hessian marines on board the frigate. There is no indication as to what his "position" was on board the frigate South Carolina, so we do not know whether he may have been a sailor or a marine. All we may ever know of him was that he was indeed on board the frigate South Carolina when she struck her colors to the three British men-of-war and that he was on board the HMS Quebec roster of prisoners transported to New York City on December 20, 1782. The final glimpse we get of Henry Helt before he slips into the mists of time is this: beside his name on the roster, as for so many of the prisoners transported to New York City on board the HMS Quebec, is the short notation "23 Dec. '82 Jersey Prison Ship". There is no way of knowing but, there does indeed exist the possibility that for Henry Helt he found his resting place in a shallow, unmarked grave along the shores of Wallabout Bay, NY, as so many others imprisoned on board the numerous prison ships moored in that infamous bay.